When you’re not afraid to ask, you begin to understand.
At OSAY THE LABEL, asking has become our way of building. Where does the leather come from? How was the animal treated? What happens to the treatment of used water? How are associated factories and tanneries workers paid—and supported? What are each their parental leave policies? What about the glue, the dyes, the soles, the packaging, the shoe bags…?
Once you start, it’s hard to stop. It’s like opening Pandora’s box. Each answer reveals another layer. Another blind spot. Another responsibility.
And no—it will never be perfect. You’ll never know everything. But you can’t stop at the first convenient answer.
I remember sitting next to an executive from a major brand. She proudly described their brand new recycling program—how customers could drop off used clothes in-store.
So I asked: “And then what happens to the clothes?” She paused. “They’re picked up by a third party.” “And then?” She didn’t know. No one knew.
The questions had stopped there.
Later, that same program was exposed for dumping tons of “recycled” clothes into landfills. It looked good—but it did nothing. That moment stuck with me.
We started OSAY so we could stay close. Not just to our product—but to our process. To the people. The systems. The choices behind every step.
As a small brand, you’re supposed to be close to your suppliers. To know your values—and your limits. Although many choose not to be. We choose differently.
We’ve resisted pressure—many times—to move manufacturing to places where it might be easier, faster, or cheaper. But doing so would mean losing that true human connection, the trust, the control. And that’s something we’re not willing to compromise.
We know who we work with—intimately. We know where and how they work. We know the schedule of the atelier. The family leave policies. The holidays. The human rhythms behind each pair of shoes.
That closeness is everything.
It’s also why we’ve chosen to work with high-quality surplus leather from the luxury industry—waste that already exists— rather than alternatives that still don’t meet our standards for ethics, transparency, and impact.
We still don’t know everything. But we keep asking. Especially when the answers are inconvenient.
Because that’s what responsibility looks like.
If more of us—brands and consumers alike—asked where our money goes, what it touches, who it affects, and what systems it sustains, the fashion industry, and this planet, might look a little different.
